TAMPA — The Vero Beach girls soccer team was just minutes away from winning the program's first state title, but it wasn't in the cards for the Fighting Indians.

Oviedo came back and scored the game-tying goal with 10:12 left in the second half of the Class 6A final on Saturday to send the game into overtime, and the Lions went on to win in a shootout, 2-1 (3-2 penalty kicks).

Vero Beach (20-4-2) had a chance to go up two goals in penalty kicks when goalkeeper Destiny Kelley made two big saves on Oviedo's second and third kicks, but the tide turned when Lions keeper Lindsay Preston stopped a shot from Lauriell Young, the Indians' third kicker who had scored on a penalty kick in regulation but changed directions from her normal routine.

The Lions (22-3-1) made their next two attempts, then Vero Beach's Hailey Bertin shanked her shot over the crossbar and Preston made a far-reaching save on the final kick from Kat McClain to end it.

"It just wasn't meant to be," Vero Beach coach Jose Gibert said. "It was just an unlucky break for us tonight, but my hat's off to them. They played a great game."

Vero Beach had a lot going against it Saturday. Right fullback Brooke MacMillan went down early in the first half with a possible broken nose, and her replacement, freshman Emilee Rodriguez, suffered an ankle injury just moments after entering the game. Scrambling to fill the hole, Gibert put his second-leading scorer, Kathleen Keenan in back and her presence was missed up front.

Oviedo started putting heavy pressure on the Vero Beach defense after that and dominated possession in the second half, especially getting looks on 14 corner kicks and 15 free kicks.

It seemed evident the Lions were going to punch in the tying goal any minute, though Kelley played an outstanding game in goal and finished with 14 saves. Young had given the Indians the 1-0 lead 14 minutes into the game after getting taken down in the box and capitalizing on her ensuing penalty kick – her second such goal of the tournament.

Vero Beach's lead held up for 55 minutes before Lions midfielder Morgan Campbell finally came through with a perfectly-placed shot on the ground to the right of the diving Kelley. Campbell also had the final goal in penalty kicks.

"To be honest, I thought it was going to come sooner," Gibert said. "You can't give up corner kick after corner kick. If it weren't for Destiny, I think we could have conceded that goal a little sooner.

Gibert added, "The work Destiny did, it did keep us in the game because you cannot give that many free kicks, corner kicks and stay on top. I think we were lucky we took it all the way to double overtime, and it shows the heart and effort of these players. I like to attack. I don't like to defend, but I think we did way too much defending tonight."

Once the game went into penalty kicks, Vero Beach was feeling confident, especially after having practiced them nearly every day since the start of the district tournament.

When the Indians went up 2-1 and Kelley made her second save on a shot by Colleen O'Kennedy, the confidence grew. They didn't expect the next three attempts to miss or be stopped. Preston finished with 15 saves on the night for Oviedo, as both goalkeepers were the standouts of the game.

"I thought when Destiny made the second stop it was ours," Gibert said. "We've been practicing penalty kicks since the minute we got into districts and regionals. That's how we conclude practice.

"The five we chose, we had a strategy. One was going to go right, one was going to go left. That's just the way they shoot, that's the way they like to place it. A couple girls changed their strike, and in a penalty shootout you have to stick with what has worked over and what you have been doing over and over. Their goalkeeper came up big, one time more than Destiny did."

Oviedo, which was playing in its third state tournament in four years, had lost a chance at its first title three years ago in penalty kicks. Lions coach Scott Waisanen was beginning to feel a bad case of deja vu when Kelley made the two saves.

"As bitter and brutal as that was (three years ago), it's that much sweeter having come back and won this way," Waisanen said. "... You go down 2-1, and we had just two more (kicks), they had three. All we needed was one save, and our goalkeeper, Lindsay, made that one stop we needed to give us a ray of hope."

Vero Beach was playing in its first Final Four and trying to win the Treasure Coast its first championship.

Kelley said the loss was tough to take, but the Indians have much to be proud of this season.

"Probably people doubted us because we had never been this far, but coming this far is pretty amazing," Kelley said. "... We worked so hard. Tonight just wasn't our night, but we took a team to penalty kicks in the state championship game. That shows how competitive we are."

THE SHOOTOUT

The order and results of the penalty kicks that decided the Class 6A Championship.